Ashdod: Mother of two recalls Grad rockets hitting city
Rocket attack damages a synagogue, leaves seven wounded; "I heard an enormous explosion, and thought of my kids."
By YAAKOV LAPPINGrad rocket with police(photo credit: Reuters)
A mother of two children from Ashdod described how she was caught by surprise by an air-raid siren on Friday morning during the Palestinian rocket attack on the city while assisting her ill father.Two Grad rockets fired from Gaza slammed into the city on Friday morning, with one rocket falling near a Yeshiva, wounding seven people, including one seriously and one moderately. The second rocket struck a synagogue, but failed to detonate.RELATED:Counter-terror officer killed by terrorist fire near EilatTimeline of the attacks on the Sinai borderIAF planes strike in Gaza after rockets slam SouthThe wounded were on their way to morning prayers. The seriously wounded victim was evacuated to Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot.Edna (who requested that her last name not be published), age 44, was at home with her children and a guest when the first air-raid siren went off shortly before 6 a.m.“I woke up in a panic and rushed to wake up my kids. My guest burst into tears from the shock,” she told The Jerusalem Post on Friday.
A little under two hours later, Edna walked to her parents’ home, 200 meters away, to tend to her father, who is ill and confined to a wheelchair. As she wheeled her father to a car, the second siren went off.
“We didn’t know where to go.We were stranded outside and I could not get my father indoors in time. Then we heard an enormous explosion. The rocket fell near my house. The first thing I thought about was my children,” she said. “I called them and they were crying in shock.”Local officials canceled all sporting and cultural events in Ashdod and Beersheba as a result of the escalation in attacks. Police called on residents of the south to remain close to safe zones – enclosed areas that are less exposed to rockets – and to follow instructions issued by the Home Front Command.Click for full Jpost coverage
